Immigration and Plane Ticket Fees
Donation protected
This week, my boyfriend Hendrick Valera was traveling from Colombia to stay with me in Eugene, Oregon to see me graduate college. He was detained in the LAX airport with a legal tourist visa, without access to his phone or legal representation and sent back to Colombia with a 5 year ban on re-entering the United States. He has visited me multiple times in the past without any issues, and has become a part of our family.
It has been a very traumatic and devastating last couple of days, as you can imagine. I am asking the community of people who know how wonderful Hendrick is, or those who want to help support our situation with hiring a legal attorney to please help out. He was sent back without reimbursement for his round trip airfare to the United States. The fee for filling out the waiver that allows him to apply for a visa again even with the 5 year ban is 1,000 dollars. Even setting up an appointment with the US embassy to start the appeal process costs money, as he would have to fly to another city to do so. We are beginning the process to start appealing this situation but we can’t do it alone given how expensive this system is. Please help in whatever way you see fit, whether it be a donation or a contact with someone who offers pro bono immigration work. Together we can fight this. Thank you so much for your time and consideration.
UPDATE:
Hey everyone! We hope you are all staying as safe and healthy during these unprecedented times. I wanted to send a follow up email regarding mine and Hendrick’s situation since he was detained and sent back to Colombia where he is currently residing with his family. We really appreciate all of the support that you all offered us through your kind words and donations, as it has really meant a lot. Moving forward, we have met with two attorneys already and have looked into several options to be together once again: a working visa, marriage visa, fiancée visa, moving to Canada, or reapplying for a tourist visa, or moving to another country together. After much research and investigation, and given the state of our country with the pandemic and the way that is being used to tighten immigration laws, we have decided our best option is to pursue our life together in another country. Because of the pandemic, they are denying even more visas and the wait time for receiving them is much longer as well. Since it’s hard to plan for the future right now, we are keeping our options open but are looking into hopefully moving together to South America or Europe in the future until the 5 year ban is up and we can re-examine our options. We will be using the money that was donated to us to pay for immigration fees and to meet with attorneys and pay for airfare where we end up living together. We will continue to give updates about our situation when we have them, and again want to thank each of you for all of the support and assistance you have offered us. With love, Ana & Hendrick
It has been a very traumatic and devastating last couple of days, as you can imagine. I am asking the community of people who know how wonderful Hendrick is, or those who want to help support our situation with hiring a legal attorney to please help out. He was sent back without reimbursement for his round trip airfare to the United States. The fee for filling out the waiver that allows him to apply for a visa again even with the 5 year ban is 1,000 dollars. Even setting up an appointment with the US embassy to start the appeal process costs money, as he would have to fly to another city to do so. We are beginning the process to start appealing this situation but we can’t do it alone given how expensive this system is. Please help in whatever way you see fit, whether it be a donation or a contact with someone who offers pro bono immigration work. Together we can fight this. Thank you so much for your time and consideration.
UPDATE:
Hey everyone! We hope you are all staying as safe and healthy during these unprecedented times. I wanted to send a follow up email regarding mine and Hendrick’s situation since he was detained and sent back to Colombia where he is currently residing with his family. We really appreciate all of the support that you all offered us through your kind words and donations, as it has really meant a lot. Moving forward, we have met with two attorneys already and have looked into several options to be together once again: a working visa, marriage visa, fiancée visa, moving to Canada, or reapplying for a tourist visa, or moving to another country together. After much research and investigation, and given the state of our country with the pandemic and the way that is being used to tighten immigration laws, we have decided our best option is to pursue our life together in another country. Because of the pandemic, they are denying even more visas and the wait time for receiving them is much longer as well. Since it’s hard to plan for the future right now, we are keeping our options open but are looking into hopefully moving together to South America or Europe in the future until the 5 year ban is up and we can re-examine our options. We will be using the money that was donated to us to pay for immigration fees and to meet with attorneys and pay for airfare where we end up living together. We will continue to give updates about our situation when we have them, and again want to thank each of you for all of the support and assistance you have offered us. With love, Ana & Hendrick
Organizer
Ana Dursch-Smith
Organizer
Eugene, OR